TPE Challenge #33 is a recipe challenge: Something with dots, Use a Punch(es), a Tag. Of course, I just HAD to use my brand new Windswept Fhiona stamp, but this time I wanted to have a go at using my Copics to colour her, so I chose some fun paper and a bright colour scheme to match the colours in the small set of Copic Ciaos that I own!

For the punches part of the recipe, I used my Woodware Daisy punch (...I must get some other sizes of this great punch - I only have 'regular', LOL!) to handmake some co-ordinating flowers. And I popped a decorated chipboard tag on for the sentiment.

Over at Truly Scrumptious this week, there is a fabulous sketch by Heather for Challenge 16, so I followed this for my card. It was fab to work with, and so I will certainly be using this one again!

Don't forget that there are still LOADS of ways to win free YNS stamps and YNS gift certificates at the moment. You must get your hands on these little beauties, as we'd LOVE you to join in with our fortnightly (bi-weekly) challenge blog, starting 7th October!! - just check out my YNS section of my sidebar for all the details and links ------->

Sunday, 27 September 2009

Way-hay! It's Sunday and it's time for a brand new challenge over at Sunday Sketch & Stamp! This fortnight's challenge (#12) is a super-duper sketch by the wonderful and very talented Barb. If you join in with this challenge, then you will be entered into the prize draw to win a set of Alota Rubber Stamps!!

My card for this challenge has been made especially for a 13 year old girl named Paige Welch, who very recently was in a terrible boating accident. Erin (who is a fellow Whimsy Stamps DT member) is Paige's neighbour, and just a week ago Erin posted Paige's story on her blog here with a plea for people to make a card for Paige. Erin is offering up some yummy blog candy for those who make a card and mail it to her to give to Paige. In one short week, lots of stamp companies have got on board with this cause and have donated loads of stamps to Erin's candy to encourage us all to participate!

I have used the Whimsy digi stamp called 'A Teddy for Paige' for my card. This stamp was designed especially for this cause, and can be purchased immediately for download by clicking here. All proceeds from the sale of this digi stamp will go to Paige’s Account at Seacoast Credit Union in Exeter NH.

I thought it would be a good idea to combine a few challenges for this card so that this worthy cause can get some more exposure, so.......

Finally, you still have time to join in with the YOUR NEXT STAMP BLOG HOP (see my post here), but be quick, because it ends tonight!! It's fun, it's easy (all you have to do is leave a comment on all the DTs blog hop posts), and you could win the grand prize of $50 worth of YNS stamps of your choice!! Come on ... the YNS Starlets would love you to do the hop with us!!

Thursday, 24 September 2009

I am SO thrilled to have been chosen as one of Sketch Saturday's Top 12, following the first round of their DT call! YIPPEE!!! I genuinely didn't think I'd get through the first round, and so suffice to say I feel shocked, surprised and over the moon to have been chosen! Thank you so much, girls!

The second (and final) stage of the DT call is to make a new card using any of the Sketch Saturday sketches from the last 3 months (i.e. as far back as sketch #56).

I had terrible trouble trying to choose a sketch, as I love them all! So to narrow it down, I eliminated all the sketches that I have used in the past, and then after picking the stamp that I wanted to use, I further narrowed down my choices to those sketches that I thought would work with that image. Finally (phew!) I decided upon the wonderful Sketch #59, which was originally set on 11th July:

As I wanted to use this beautiful Sugar Nellie stamp from the new Autumn kit, I decided to use autumnal colours of oranges, browns and greens, and so out came my MME Bloom & Grow 12x12 papers (which, I'm ashamed to admit, is only the 2nd time I've used them! Tut, tut, LOL!).

I coloured the image with my Whisper Pens, and mixed up a custom colour for her coat by blending orange and brown pens on an acrylic block and applying them with a blender pen. I inked around the edges of the image with my VersaMagic Wheat dew drop chalk ink pad, and then inked around them again with Pumpkin Spice (click on the pic to enlarge it):

If you follow my blog, you will know that I always omit the sentiments on cards. I don't sell my cards (I keep them in an ever-expanding drawer in my house!), but use them for personal use, so I don't like to 'pin down' the occasion for each card as I don't know who it will be given to in the end! However, I have some lovely sentiment stamps that were part of the WOJ Autumn Stamp Kit, and so I couldn't not use this one!!

Okay, so that's it - I can do nothing more now than wait nervously!! ...my poor nails are going to be non-existent by next week!! Hee hee!

And don't forget to join in with the YOUR NEXT STAMP BLOG HOP (see my post below) - it's fun, it's easy (all you have to do is leave a comment on all the DTs blog hop posts), and you could win the grand prize of $50 worth of YNS stamps of your choice!!

Thanks for dropping by, your time and your comments are so very much appreciated!

Wednesday, 23 September 2009

The YNS Starlets have got absolutely LOADS to show to you today! We each have 3 fantastic cards and/or projects all made with BRAND NEW RELEASE YNS stamps that you can buy from TODAY direct from the YNS store.

The grand prize for this awesome blog hop is $50 of YNS stamps of your choice (with FREE shipping)!!! Also, Karen will be drawing another winner from one of the YNS Starlets DT blogs who will win a stamp set (again, with FREE shipping)! But we don't know which blog that will be!! To be in with a chance of winning the grand prize or the secret prize, you need to leave a comment on EVERY blog in the hop.

And if that's not incentive enough, each YNS DT Starlet is offering a small prize on each of their blogs too PLUS there will be FREE SHIPPING at the Your Next Stamp store from the start of this blog hop until midnight (EST) on 24th September - just enter the code PARTY at the checkout.

If you want to participate in this fun hop, and you didn't come here from Amy's blog, then you need to hop back to the beginning and start from Karen's blog, where you can read in detail the rules for entering.

I have loads of piccies to show you, so I'll try to keep the chat to a minimum!! LOL! (I'll list my supplies at the very end after the first 24hrs of the hop). So, without further ado, here are my YNS DT creations....

(1) WINDSWEPT FHIONA

~ Stair Step Fold Card ~

When I saw the Windswept Fhiona set of stamps, I knew instantly what I wanted to do with them - a Stair Step Fold Card! This is something I've never attempted before, but I just knew it would work so well with this stamp set!

I have to say that I'm really proud of this card - I didn't use any stamps other than those from the stamp set plus my own drawings!!

I made the sky myself by cutting out a cloud from a scrap piece of card and then used my Sea Breeze versamagic chalk dew drop pad and my index finger(!) to sponge around the cloud, moving it around to achieve the cloudy sky effect. I also made the tree myself by taking the stick stamp from the stamp set and stamping it several times onto a piece of patterned paper, then stamping up and cutting out some additional leaves. I handdrew the tree trunk myself! Finally, I drew the stone wall myself too, but this time I used MS Paint to draw one section and then duplicated it. It was sheer fluke that it ended up the correct size!! LOL!

I made sure that all the elements that were added to the card still worked when the card was folded up flat (sorry for the slightly wonky photo with half of the wall missing - I had to hold it down with one hand whilst taking a pic with the other, and I'm not showing my nibbled nails to anyone, LOL!!):

The treat bag topper was really easy to make (no tutorial needed!) - and I even took a special trip to Whittards to buy the co-ordinating pink and black individual Lindt Lindor chocolates!

Finally, I made this mini pizza box following a Split Coast Stampers tutorial:

I decorated the inside of the box and used one of the new Christmas Imaginisce £0.99 clear stamps for the sentiment. I inked up the words with some black ink and the snowflake with some pink ink to achieve the affect - happily, it worked first time!

For my third project, I decided to make something I haven't tried before - a diagonal double pocket card (tutorial from SCS). I've just taken delivery of some older OA papers (but they're new to me!) and I had a particular double-sided piece in mind to use with this adorable YNS Not So Scary Crow stamp. So I took the different colours from the patterned paper through to my colouring of him:

I made 2 matching bookmarks to go into the pockets, again using the scarecrow stamp and the scraps of paper that were left over (I don't have any of this paper left now, as silly old me only ordered one piece, so I must remember to order some more!). For this first bookmark, I used one of my favourite Dr Seuss' quotes:

And for the the second bookmark, I found a wonderful quote about books by Charles W Eliot:

Finally, some co-ordinating ribbon I happened upon in my ribbon bag and my project was complete!

Okay, so those are my 3 YNS projects! I'm sure you'll agree that these stamps are fabulous! If you fancy some yourself, make sure you order within the next 24 hours to get the FREE SHIPPING offer ... yes, that's FREE SHIPPING worldwide!! If you get some of these stamps, then you'll be able to join in with our biweekly/fortnightly YNS challenges too!

So remember - leave a comment on EVERY one of the YNS DT Starlets' blogs to be in with a chance to win the grand prize. I will draw the winner of my mini YNS blog candy, which will be one of my DT creations (above) plus a surprise, on Monday 28th September.

Finally, don't forget that there are TONNES of ways to be in with the chance to win free stamps from YNS at the moment. Just check out the YNS section of my sidebar for all the details and links ------>

Have you left me a comment? Yes? FAB - thanks so much! :o) So now you can hop over to the next YNS Starlet on the blog hop, the wonderfully talented... Cabio

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you've enjoyed these projects, as I've really enjoyed making them for you!

Sunday, 20 September 2009

I've now finished my second project for the forthcoming Your Next Stamp BLOG HOP on 23rd September, and here is a little sneek peak for ya!

We'd really love for you to join in with the blog hop! There will be prizes for 2 winners: one winner will receive a stamp set, and the 'grand prize' winner will win $50 worth of YNS stamps of their choice (with free shipping!). So be sure to mark 23rd September in your diairies, as we'd love you to join us at the hop!

There are so many ways to win YNS stamps at the moment - just check out my sidebar, where all the details and the links are is listed ------->We have a challenge blog, plus a YNS fan club at yahoo... so grab our blinkies, join our club, follow both YNS blogs and be in with a chance to win loads of prizes! What are you waiting for?

Friday, 18 September 2009

Just hopped on to tell you that Your Next Stamp is releasing some brand new stamps next week on Wednesday 23rd September. To celebrate the new release, the DT 'Starlets' are having a blog hop on release day (23rd Sept) to showcase these brand new stamps.

So to whet your appetite, here's a little sneak peek of one of the items from one project that I've completed using one of the almost-to-be-released stamps!

I really hope you'll all join in with the blog hop, as these stamps really are the cutest. And to entice you even more, there will be prizes for 2 winners: one winner will receive a stamp set, and the 'grand prize' winner will win $50 worth of YNS stamps of their choice (with free shipping!). So be sure to mark 23rd September in your diairies, as we'd love you to join us at the hop!

Want free YNS stamps? There are heaps of ways to win YNS stamps at the moment - just check out my sidebar, where all the details and the links are is listed ------->

We have a challenge blog, plus a YNS fan club at yahoo... so grab our blinkies, join our club, follow both YNS blogs and be in with a chance to win! Easy as pie!

Tuesday, 15 September 2009

I'm glad to see that the UK mail is starting to get back to normal, as this morning I received my first 5 sets of DT stamps from Your Next Stamp! I'm getting a bit worried that my new Sugar Nellie stamps (that were dispatched over a week ago) haven't arrived yet....

Anyhow, with 5 (count 'em!) new stamp sets to play with, I set straight to work and inked up this little beauty, which is called 'Frog Princess' and is from the 'Fairy Tale Princess' line of stamps at Your Next Stamp. 'Frog Princess' is a set of 4 stamps: this beautiful princess about to kiss a frog, a larger individual frog, some flowers in grass, and a 4-flowers border stamp. I intend to use the other 3 stamps for the inside of this card, but I haven't started it yet!

I have had this gorgeous 12x12 double-sided and glittered Imaginisce paper for ages now, and of course, it is perfect for this stamp set! I followed this week's brand new sketch #68 at Sketch Saturday, as I felt it fitted perfectly with what I wanted to do!

I coloured the little frog princess using my very limited stash of promarkers. [She had to have a blue dress, as I don't have any pink or suitable green promarkers, LOL!] I used some gold glitter glue to highlight her crown and gold detail of her dress. Plus I put some tiny self-adhesive gems on her crown for extra bling!

I used my Cuttlebug and flourish die to cut out 2 swirls and then altered them a bit to make one large swirl, and I coloured the larger blue flower and the blue pearls with my blue promarkers. Finally, some blue gingham ribbon and some faux-stitching to finish it off!

Before I jabber on, I want to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who joined in with challenge 10, and for all your wonderful comments about my sketch (I'm so relieved you liked it, LOL!). Of course, I'd like to think that our record number of participants had something to do with my sketch, but I know you all wanted to try out for the Guest DT positions really, didn't you? *wink wink* LOL! The DT are busy gazing upon your fabulous creations, and we'll be making our final decision soon.

So... onto my card! We have a great sketch by Arianne this fortnight, and a prize donated by Pink Petticoat! The DT were lucky enough to be given the brand new Pink Petticoat 'Frillie Millie' range of digi stamps to play with, and I chose 'Bonbon' for my card (purely because she has a poodle, LOL!)

I confess that I'm still finding my Copics hard to use, so I've decided to give Promarkers a try instead. I already had a few (that I won in a blog candy giveaway a while ago), and so I ordered Sandstone and Blue Pearl from Joanna Sheen so I could take part (for the first time!) in the Passion for Promarkers challenge blog. These colours are so beautiful together, and I really enjoyed using the Promarkers, so I'm going to continue giving these a try for the time being!

The little 4mm pearls were originally white, but I used the Sandstone and Blue Pearl Promarkers to colour them to match the card.

Saturday, 12 September 2009

I have some absolutely AMAZING news! Completely out-of-the-blue, I received an email from the lovely Denise at Whimsy Stamps yesterday evening asking me if I'd be interested in joining their Design Team!! Me? Little old me? LOL! Well, I thought about it for all of 2 seconds before replying with a big, huge, YES!! Thank you SO MUCH Denise for contacting me and for offering me this fantastic opportunity. I'm am absolutely thrilled!

Friday, 11 September 2009

Has anyone else's mail been affected by these darned Royal Mail strikes? Of course it had to be my neck-of-the-woods that has been affected, as I have been waiting patiently for my new DT stamps to arrive from Your Next Stamp! LOL! Well, I'm glad to say that the first of 3 packets from Canada has now arrived, and it contained this gorgeous and cute Teacher Fhiona stamp set.

The Teacher Fhiona stamp set has 6 individual stamps included: Teacher Fhiona and her blackboard and 5 accessory stamps. I stamped Fhiona (with blackboard) 3 times onto white card and once onto the reverse of some black card. I coloured and cut out Fhiona, then coloured and cut out her hairband and attached it with glue (glossing the apple). I coloured and cut out the blackboard frame, then cut out the blackboard only from the black card. I attached the frame to the blackboard, glossed the frame for added dimension, and wrote the letters onto the 'blackboard' with a white gel pen (thanks to Jo for this tip!).

One of the accessory stamp is an apple stamp, but it was a bit too big for what I wanted, so instead I stamped the School Books accessory stamp (which has a smaller apple) twice, coloured the apples with Copics, cut them out, glossed them, and stuck the red apple onto the paper and popped up the red/green apple in front of the other one:

I applied 3D gloss to the blackboard frame, Fhiona's headband apple, and the 2 individual apples at Fhiona's feet:

I followed this fortnight's fabby sketch at Sketch & Stash, which challenges you to use your new or neglected stash on your creations! Of course, my stamps are brand new, plus I used some script paper from my fairly new OA Cherry Hill 8x8 pad (which I didn't think I'd ever be able to use!) to matt Fhiona onto. I used my nesties Labels 1 to cut out the matting plate, plus inked around the scripted paper with my (indispensable!) Wheat Versamagic Dew Drop pad.

And finally, lots of foam pads for that all-important 3d-ness!

*****************************************************************

... and now for some YOUR NEXT STAMP news ...

Register and join our brand new YNS fanclub Yahoo group BEFORE 1st October 2009, and you will be entered into the prize draw to win a $20 gift certificate for the Your Next Stamp online store.

Subscribe to the Your Next Stamp store newsletter, and you will the first to know about secret sales! The first secret sale is FREE SHIPPING!! Please an order with Your Next Stamp right now and get FREE SHIPPING, no matter where in the world you are, by entering the code SS1 when you checkout.

Wednesday, 9 September 2009

Okay, so here's the card I've just finished making for the Sketch Saturday DT call! Woo-hoo! It's taken me an age to actually finish this, as we've had an amazingly unexpected stressful past few days, and when I'm upset my mojo leaves me completely, LOL!

The first part of the call is to make a card using the following sketch:

If you're interested in applying for the Sketch Saturday DT call, click here to be taken along to the post at Sketch Saturday where you can read all about it. All entries for the first part of the DT call need to be submitted by 8.00pm (UK time) on Monday 14th September (2009).

I really wanted to use my new 'Snow' Miss Anya stamp for this card, and so I decided to make a Christmas card (my second ever!!). I coloured her with my usual combination of Whispers pens and Copic Ciaos (E00 & R20), and then cut her out and raised her on 3D foam pads onto a cream piece of card run through the snowflakes Cuttlebug folder. Then I stamped, coloured and cut out part of her scarf and her muff and raised these on more foam pads for added dimension. I used some of my brand new Polar White flowersoft on her ear muffs, hand muff, and trim of her outfit and boots, and popped some stickles on the top to give it a bit of a glittery finish. Finally I used my Sakura Clear Stardust pen to add some glittery detail to her eyeshadow and ear muff headband.

I created the sentiment myself using a combination of fonts and a free snowflake graphic found on the internet. I used my 'Wheat' Versamagic Dew Drop to ink around the edges and added 3 pearls to the underlaid strip to match Miss Anya's buttons and the pearls I added to the scalloped edge below. This was also my very first time at sewing a bow!! Eek! I told myself that I was only going to attempt to sew if I had the correct colour cotton in my small sewing kit, and blow-me-down, I actually did, so I went ahead:

I originally handmade 3 candy canes for the top panel (complete with gloss, for that shiny look, LOL!), but I only have one red Copic Ciao and one red Whisper pen - the Copic wasn't the right colour, and the Whisper pen ink bled badly when I covered it with gloss. So in the end I came up with the idea of winding some thin cream satin ribbon around some red grosgrain ribbon to give a candy-cane look, and I'm quite pleased with the overall result:

Obviously, I would LOVE to be on the Sketch Saturday DT - I adore all their sketches, and I even save each one into a special folder on my PC for use at any time - so please wish me luck! And GOOD LUCK to everyone else who is applying too!

If you'd like to be included in the draw to win one of these candies, then please...

ost this image on the sidebar of your blog, with the closing date of 26.09.09, and link it back to this post [additionally, if you would like to write a blog post about my candy giveaway, then that would be fab, but not compulsory!].

- Leave a comment under this post telling me you've done the above.

THAT'S IT! :o)

2ND ENTRY

- If you are one of my fab followers, then please post a second comment saying "I'm your follower, Sem" to be entered twice!

~ The closing date is 11:59pm (GMT) on Saturday 26 September 2009~~ The candies are open to craft bloggers only ~~ I will ship worldwide ~~ I will draw 3 winners using random.org on 27 September 2009 and post their names on this blog ~~ The winners will have until 30 September 2009 to email me their addresses, else I will draw again ~~ To make sure the draw is fair to everyone, I will check all entries and delete those comments which do not meet the above criteria ~

Please note that all cards, creations, text, photographs and design work shown on this blog in the past, present and future are copyrighted to me. I'm very happy for you to use my designs for inspiration and creative ideas, but please do not copy them. Please do not directly copy or take anything from this blog for sale, publication, challenge entries and/or contest submissions, etc. Thanks for understanding.